Panzanella

I don't remember where or when I first heard about this Tuscan bread and tomato salad, but in recent years I've grown really fond of it - especially in the summer, when there's usually an abundance of ripe tomatoes.  The exact types of bread or tomatoes are not crucial, but ripe tomatoes are key for good panzanella. The recipe calls for stale bread, but I guess it would work with fresh bread too - but stale bread is just fine.

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp anchovies, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp capers, finely chopped
- a generous pour of olive oil
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1,5 tsp apple cider vinegar
- fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- 4 ripe, "normal" tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 2 ripe beef tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- a handful of datterino tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- a 10 cm of stale bread, coarsely diced
- 125 g mini-mozzarella, quartered

The finely chopped anchovies and capers were stirred with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Then tomatoes, basil and bread was added, and the ingredients were mixed with tongs. Mozzarella was added lastly. Best left to soak for a while before consuming.

I love it, and it's quite filling too.

In this version I used a mix of tomatoes and for an even more colourful version one could use more different kinds of tomatoes.

This time I also added a number of ingredients I often do not use - cutting it down to basics it's still delicious.

Basic panzanella:
- stale bread, coarsely diced
- ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- salt
- black pepper
- olive oil

For the basic version, I usually just add alternating layers of bread, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and olive oil - often in a lunch box in the morning and then consume for lunch at work.